Earthquakes

Many earthquakes have occured. In MEDCs (more economically developed countries), they are better equipped to handle natural disasters; however, the poorer countries (LEDCs) are not. I wrote this article as if it were a year on from the 1995 Kobe earthquke to explain earthquakes and show how Japan was before it adapted to over come natural disaster.

Tokyo still burdened with Kobe earthquake tragedy

Analysis of Kobe causes and aftershocks can minimise future earthquake disaster.

By Alisha Burman

Last year, on the 17^th of January 1995, an earthquake struck Kobe, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The city, located near the ancient capital Kyoto in Japan and has a
latitude of 34°45'N and a longitude 135°10'E, encountered the earthquake at 05:46, local time.

The location of Japan is a main factor of the cause of the Great Hanshin earthquake (Kobe earthquake). Kobe is a little off the Median Tectonic line – Japan’s longest
fault line, which begins near Ibaraki Prefecture; it was the sudden movement of
the tectonic fault line that triggered the earthquake. Additionally, Kobe is located right
under parts of the fault, which was already broken down from major earthquakes
in 1944 and 1946; this makes Kobe
more vulnerable to an earthquake. Furthermore, the epicentre is 34.6 N 135.0E Awaji Island (in Osaka Bay),
20 miles south of Kobe
and the focus of the earthquake was at North latitude 34 degrees, east
longitude of 135 degrees and 16 km of depth.

Densely

The cause of the earthquake was due to three tectonic plates. The earthquake occurred along the destructive plate boundary where the Pacific and the Philippine Plate
(oceanic) meet the Eurasian (continental) plate. The Philippine plate is denser
than the Eurasian plate so it is subducted underneath the Eurasian plate which
moves 10 cm yearly.

Consequently, immense pressure of the plate’s movements causes faults in the Japanese crust. There is a fault running through Kobe, however it had not moved for sixty years: it had not moved for such a great period of time that an enormous amount
of pressure built up. As a result, when the fault did move, seismic shockwaves travelled from Awaji
Island along the Nojima
Fault to the cities of Kobe
and Osaka. The
great destruction which resulted from the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, was due to the
shallow depth of the focus and the fact that the epicentre occurred close to a
very heavily populated area. The fact that the depth of the focus was so
shallow violent shaking and sudden jolts, caused by friction, occurred.

Although the earthquake only lasted twenty seconds long it had many negative outcomes. As a result of the seismic waves shaking the ground, 75,000 buildings and bridges collapsed along with society
as they’d known it. The majority of buildings destroyed were old and wooden
however, office blocks made from steel frequently shattered. Modern buildings
which were ‘earthquake proof’ managed to survive with little damage; some were left standing at an angle when the ground beneath
them liquefied. Moreover, another primary effect includes roads and
railways being destroyed creating difficulty and obstacles for the rescue services
to travel to the areas worse affected. In addition, water and gas supplies were
cut off and the infrastructure was a major hazard:
broken gas pipes and sparks from severed electrical cables triggered fires.
Phone lines were cut making all communication and calls to the rescue services
unachievable. Nearly
6,000 people were killed, with another 26,000 injured. 310,000 people were made
homeless.

Strong ground movements led to settlement and liquefaction in these areas and so damage to industry was severe and instigated aftershocks. The damaged cost ten trillion yen - 2.5% of Japan's GDP at the time; the costly
damage became famous and holds the record of the ‘costliest natural disaster to
befall a country.’ A spokesperson from the Build Kobe organisation states “Most
of the losses were uninsured, as only 3% of property in the Kobe area was covered by earthquake
insurance, compared to 16% in Tokyo.” The earthquake resulted in a major decline in
stock markets and the closure and collapse of great Japanese banks. Population
of Kobe
plummeted as many were killed; disease was spread by the corpses and
contaminated water. Those that survived were homeless, cold and extremely
vulnerable. Many lost there jobs as Japan tried to over come their
financial difficulties.

The Kobe earthquake affected many locations – the city itself, Japan and other countries. Kobe
is an important route centre; it has motorway
(Hanshin Expressway) and intercity ('bullet train') railway lines passing
through it and a large modern port which handles millions of tonnes of trade
each year. The earthquake caused massive damage to all the transport
facilities; several sections of motorway, many of which were built above the
ground on tall concrete stilts, collapsed or toppled sideways. Furthermore, railway
lines were buckled and many stations damaged; a 130 kilometre section of the
'bullet train' rail network had to be closed. At the port, cranes tilted or
fell and 120 (out of 150) quays where ships were moored were destroyed; port
buildings and their contents were badly damaged in many places.

The earthquake affects more people because it could trigger other disasters and Kobe is a place where many people are employed to work. It is Japan’s second most important
industrial and business centre, and produces over 20% of Japans factory output;
there are about 9,000 manufacturing industries with 120,000 workers. An
eyewitness told The Telegraph “I saw everything crumble, many survivors have no
jobs as they were mostly working in Kobe.
Those that have jobs in other places can not get transportation to them.” This affected the people in Japan and Kobe as they could not travel to the required
places and many jobs were situated here, also the world as many people depended
on Kobe’s
businesses and trade. However, the greatest threat to the world would be
if a tsunami was created. As Kobe
is situated by the coast it is possible – it had happened before in the great
Kanto earthquake. Moreover, it would affect the whole world as the tidal wave
could strike nearby countries.

Kobe was worse affected because of the fires started otherwise Awaji island would be just as bad, if not worse. Many places in Kobe were worse affect than others simply by where they were located – those that
were closer to the epicentre (Awaji
Island twenty miles
south) would have received more damage: the shockwaves would be stronger.
Additionally, wealthier parts of Kobe
had buildings that were built to withstand earthquakes, whereas in the poorer
areas buildings were older and more vulnerable.

Japan is an MEDC and was affected horrifically; however the effects of the Kobe earthquake would be much different in an LEDC.

Firstly, an LEDC would not have the financing to repair the damage as quick as an MEDC or build earthquake proof buildings. Moreover, the majority of MEDC governments are organised and can conjure or
have survival drills – LEDC governments are preoccupied with other tasks to
make an emergency plan. MEDC regularly remind citizens about emergency plans;
they also have special services trained specifically for earthquakes and MEDC
prioritise what needs to be repaired or saved. Many people in LEDC live in
under developed areas, which crumble easily and cause more injuries and there
are no experts to assess the situation. In addition, LEDC are often more
densely populated than MEDC (e.g. LEDC Gujarat 2001) ; if an earthquake does
occur more deaths would happen in the LEDC. LEDC have less expertise than MEDC,
which is another reason why LEDC are less prepared.

Scientists have a position to fulfil by monitoring and predicting earthquakes. There are many ways to predict when earthquakes will occur however, the methods scientists are using are not
accurate and developed enough to tell us exact dates. Clues that tell
scientists if an earthquake is nearby: changes in water level, gas emissions
(hydrogen or radon found in soil and ground water), earthquake storms, weather
conditions (unusual cloud patterns), phases of the moon, cracks appearing on
rocks and peculiar animal behaviour. Geologist Percy Brown talks about another
method used to monitor earthquakes, “Seismometers are instruments that measure
and record motions of the ground, including those of seismic
waves generated by earthquakes, nuclear explosions, and other seismic
sources; they produce seismographs which one can read”. Also before the
main earthquake there are usually small tremors.

Preparation for earthquake is necessary to minimise negative effects; there are many ways to prepare. Frequent earthquake drills can aid people to practise what to do in the event of an earthquake – America citizen
Molly Tanner expresses her beliefs, “I find it shocking and appalling that
there are countries in the world that don’t have a drill set up; no wonder
there are so many earthquake deaths!” Furthermore, families could put together
their own survival kits and back up electricity, gas and water supplies should
be organised in advance. Additionally, children should be thought thoroughly
about earthquakes; this way they can be prepared early on in life. Emergency
services should be prepared to deal with the hazard in advance; emergency
medical and food supplies should be easily obtained and monitoring should be
held to give enough warning and maximum time. Emergency pamphlets and
information should be well accessible to inform others regularly in public.
Moreover, the building design can be altered so that they don’t collapse under
the strain and the foundations should reduce the impact of the earthquake.
People should now be ready and flexible if an earthquake does appear. Next time
a Japanese earthquake occurs – Japan
should be better prepared and ready.